Meeting called – Charlemont past students outraged over booting of football manager, say nepotism has overtaken their school

While calling all past students to a meeting scheduled for November 13, the Charlemont High School Past Students Association (CHSPSA) said it does not support the ‘unjust’ removal of Yogi Hinds as Manager of the school’s football team.

Principal Garth Gayle booted the football manager after a student footballer used a forged CXC result slip to enroll at the school.

The football manager contends that, although he was the one who scouted the footballer, it was not his responsibility to examine the documents presented for enrollment.

President of the CHSPSA, Onenetta LaBeach, said the principal seemingly took action against the football manager to protect one of his friends whose job it was to vet the documents submitted for matriculation.

She said: “Manager Hinds brought the player to Charlemont High to be enrolled in sixth form; it was incumbent on Charlemont to do their due diligence to make sure all information was collected properly and verified before enrolling this student – as they did for other students… Principal Gayle refuses to accept responsibility for [what appears to be] gross negligence.”

LaBeach questioned if the principal took action against the football manager because the said manager is close to the CHSPSA, which has been at loggerheads with the principal for some time.

She noted that the football manager has been highly successful, having led Charlemont High to its first major win in the sport last year when the school copped the Ben Francis Cup, and later won the STETHS Cup.

LaBeach said the football saga is one of many instances in which nepotism has overtaken good management at the school.

“Charlemont High is now being governed by nepotism, and many teachers have now left because of the lack of accountability and friends being given positions that they are clearly not qualified for,” added LaBeach.

She claimed: “Teachers at the school are afraid to speak up because Principal Gayle and his cohorts in high places are responsible for their evaluations… It is disheartening to see the direction Charlemont High has taken under the leadership of Principal Garth Gayle, with sanctioning and help from those who fought for him to get his position.”

LaBeach, in the meantime, said there is no truth to claims that she hates the principal.

“I embraced Principal Gayle and was willing to work with him to make our school better until I realized that the only agenda Principal Gayle [seemingly] had was for his own personal gain,” added the CHSPSA president.

The principal, who declined to comment on the controversy regarding the booting of the football manager, previously denied claims that he was an absentee and ineffective leader.

The CHSPSA said all past students should attend a meeting at Red Fence in Bog Walk, St Catherine, at 7:30PM on November 13 ‘to discuss issues facing the CHSPSA’.

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